FICO artificial intelligence analytics will be available in the iboss node-based, direct-to-cloud web security platform

FICO and iboss aim to reduce the “dwell time” before an attack is recognised, which is often months in duration

New cyber threat score will measure risk of infection and data loss

Analytic software firm FICO today announced that its groundbreaking AI-based Cyber Analytics will be available as part of the iboss node-based, direct-to-cloud, containerised platform, a leading solution for cybersecurity and malware protection. FICO’s Cyber Analytics models will improve detection of attacks, including new or “zero-day” attacks. The announcement was made during the FICO® World 2016 conference in Washington, DC.

The partnership will create the first cyber threat score that measures the likelihood of malware infection and data breaches. FICO’s patented behavioural analytics identify anomalous activity within milliseconds, using real-time transaction profiling and self-learning models. These analytics will score suspicious “behaviour” of devices, users or servers, similar to the way that FICO’s leading card fraud solution instantly scores billions of credit card transactions around the world daily. Through the cyber threat scores, FICO and iboss clients will now be able to more accurately quantify cyber threats and remediate them in real time to stop catastrophic infection and data loss before it occurs.

FICO and iboss Cybersecurity aim to dramatically reduce the “dwell time” — the time it takes to detect an advanced threat once it has breached an organisation’s infrastructure. Data is frequently stolen within minutes or hours after penetration. However, a 2015 study by Ponemon Institute found that the average time taken to detect an advanced threat was 98 days for retailers and 196.5 days — more than six months — for financial services institutions. Lack of real-time detection is one reason why cyber attacks cost businesses an estimated $400 billion last year, and erode customer confidence.

“Our node-based, direct-to-cloud web security platform, combined with FICO’s proven streaming analytics, closes blind spots in a company’s protection,” said Peter Martini, president of iboss Cybersecurity. “Malware morphs quickly to evade traditional defenses, and with our combined technologies we’re able to adapt just as quickly and spot what other systems miss, including attacks that mask communication using TOR software, such as the Zeus64 malware trojan and Locky ransomware. Best of all, our secure containerised architecture means that FICO technology can be deployed in distributed organisations quickly and easily.”

“FICO pioneered the use of artificial intelligence in fighting financial crimes with FICO Falcon Fraud Manager, which protects billions of payment cards worldwide,” said Doug Clare, vice president of FICO cybersecurity solutions. “Our data scientists hold more than 100 patents related to streaming behavioural analytics for attack detection, which are well-proven in the financial services and telecom industries. With iboss, we found the perfect partner to bring these technologies to one of the biggest problems facing society today.”